On Teacher’s Day, our member Mr B. Bhattacharya remembers his favourite teacher from school.
In my childhood, our teachers were role models, and on Teacher’s Day I wish to pay homage to Mr Mathuresh Chandra Bhattacharya, my headmaster at Baranagar Rameshwar High School. Mr Bhattacharya was a strong-willed and polite administrator and an exemplary human being who commanded respect from all quarters. His clean-cut appearance and manner of dressing bespoke his position and stature. He would inspire us on a regular basis, through the ways in which he treated his students and through his sense of justice and ideas of morality. We would be in awe of his mannerisms, right down to the way he would walk and talk. In addition to his administrative duties, he used to teach English to the kids in class VI and X.
Mr Bhattacharya had an uncannily sharp memory—he remembered the timetables of each class and knew the teaching roster by heart. What Mr Bhattacharya practiced in his own life he passed on to us. He always emphasised the importance of memorising whatever we read.
For him, the key to growth was a strong memory. I applied his advice in my life and have reaped its benefits. Even today, I can recite from memory the numerous passages and poems he taught us. When Mr Bhattacharya passed away, all of Baranagar was present at the cremation grounds. I consider myself unfortunate that I was not in town that day. Had I been at home that day I would surely have been among the multitudes who went to pay their respects.
Over the course of my life, I have seen two absolute gentlemen: my father Hrishikesh Bhattacharya, who was a Sanskrit scholar, and my school headmaster Mr Bhattacharya. Even today I think of Mr Bhattacharya with gratitude and often speak to my wife about him. On Teacher’s Day, I hope for more such inspirational figures to appear and mould the young minds of today.

On International Dog Day, our member Ms S. Bhattacharya revisits memories of her German Pomeranian Fluffy who was a member of her family. For most families their pets are more than animals and over the years become members of their families. For me, Fluffy, our German Pomeranian, was no less than my son. He was a couple of years older than my daughter, and so he was like my first child.
When my daughter was in Nursery, she would be taught about animals. Upon seeing a picture of a German Pomeranian in class, she told her teacher that she had an elder brother, a 𝘥𝘢𝘥𝘢, who looked like that. The puzzled teacher, who knew she was an only child, checked with me. I laughed and clarified to her that Fluffy was like a member of the family and that my daughter was used to calling him 𝘥𝘢𝘥𝘢.
The bond between my daughter and Fluffy was a special one. I have younger brothers of my own, and once on 𝘣𝘩𝘢𝘪 𝘱𝘩𝘰𝘵𝘢 (𝘣𝘩𝘢𝘪 𝘥𝘰𝘰𝘫) my daughter sadly remarked to me that she wished she had a brother. I told her that she had Fluffy. She then made Fluffy sit on a square mat next to my brothers, offered him sweets, and put a sandalwood tika on his forehead! Fluffy sat obediently through the entire ceremony. It became a tradition thereon for my daughter to give him 𝘣𝘩𝘢𝘪 𝘱𝘩𝘰𝘵𝘢 .
Once, we as a family decided to join my husband who was teaching in the USA. I refused to fly without Fluffy. We had to comply with lengthy procedures and documentation and even had to prepare a box for him to travel in. Our plane made a scheduled stop in Hong Kong, and I asked the air hostess if she would allow me to feed Fluffy and take him for a walk. I was not allowed to disembark, but the air hostess assured me that his needs were taken care of. When we landed, I found out that Fluffy had refused to relieve himself! Can you imagine the state of an animal that has not relieved himself for over a day? Once he saw me, he was overjoyed and finally relaxed enough to answer the call of nature.
I truly feel there is no companion like pets. Animals are god’s creations, and when they come into our lives, they increase our capacity to love and care for others. Fluffy is no more but remains close to our hearts.